Better get used to it: Critics of new films about Christ are really objecting to the Bible

WORLD ^ | 10/11/03 | Gene Edward Veith

[rhema]

MEL GIBSON'S MOVIE THE PASSION IS NOT THE only new film about the life of Christ. The Gospel of John pairs visual cinematic images with the Word of God, working in the whole text of the Good News Bible translation with a dramatization of John's Gospel.

Visual Bible International, a Christian company in Canada, had already made low-budget visual renditions of Matthew and Acts, but The Gospel of John is far more ambitious, with high production values crafted by world-class British and Canadian filmmakers. The movie debuted at the Toronto film festival last month and will be released in a small number of markets in the United States throughout the fall. (Today, high-quality Christian movies are being made. But having them widely distributed in mainline theaters is another story.)

Although John's Gospel portrays "the Jews" as opposing Christ, this movie has finessed the criticism from Jewish groups that is hounding Mel Gibson's The Passion. The producer hired by Visual Bible to make The Gospel of John is respected filmmaker Garth Drabinsky, who happens to be Jewish. A panel of Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish advisers helped the filmmakers navigate through sensitive territory. And the Good News translation renders the "Jews" that were contending with Jesus as "Jewish authorities." One of the Jewish scholars involved in the project, Alan Segal, told reviewers that although the book of John is "the most anti-Jewish in its perception," in fact, it is "the most Jewish in its subject matter."

To one critic, though, this makes no difference. According to the Canadian intellectual Donald Harman Akenson, both Mr. Gibson's movie and Mr. Drabinsky's movie are full of hate because both Christianity and Judaism, in their Scriptures and in their monotheism, are intrinsically hateful religions.

Mr. Akenson, the recipient of the Molson laureateship for contribution to Canadian culture, argues in the Toronto Globe & Mail that when Jerusalem fell in a.d. 70, only two sects of Jews survived: the Pharisees, from whom today's Judaism descended, and the followers of a rabbi named Yeshua, aka Jesus Christ.

Following the tenets of the higher-critical approach to Scripture, Mr. Akenson says that the book of John is nothing more than a polemical screed between these two sects. "The rivalry of these two groups would have been merely a cat fight in a Middle Eastern sandbox," he writes, "had not the Roman Empire turned Christian in the fourth century, a win for the Yeshua crowd. Suddenly, arcane polemics of the first century a.d. were broadcast empire-wide and eventually worked their influence on governmental policies in dozens of Western countries for several centuries."

So much for the Judeo-Christian tradition. But Mr. Akenson goes further. This whole tradition is hateful because both Jews and Christians are monotheists. "There is no such thing as a nice monotheism," he writes. "How could there be? Monotheism associates the One True God with one set of people, its tribe or its converts, and the god of any other people is traif (non-kosher). It either has to be destroyed (by destroying its adherents) or, at a minimum, marked down as misled, mistaken, or nonexistent. So, when projected upon the big screen of world history, tiny fights between monotheistic sects of the late first century become huge, life-threatening harangues."

"Of the four Gospels, the Gospel of John is the closest to being hate literature," he writes. "Why would anyone want to be faithful to such a text? ... To film a literal version of the Gospel of John is like filming a faithful version of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion."

In a brilliant op-ed rebuttal published in the Globe & Mail, Bruce Waltke, professor at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando and a member of the film's advisory panel, demonstrated that "Prof. Akenson's scholarship is poor, his tone is grating, and his arguments bogus." His diatribe against both Jews and Christians, according to Mr. Waltke, constitutes genuine hate speech.

This exchange demonstrates what both Christians and Jews are up against in the emerging polytheistic religious climate. At a time when genuine anti-Semitism is surging among the secularist left—with all of the Western apologists for Islamic radicalism, growing anti-Jewish violence in Europe, and Jews being killed regularly by suicide bombers and other terrorists—Mel Gibson's movie should be the least of the Anti-Defamation League's worries.

Mr. Akenson's blithe dismissal of the Bible, monotheism, two major religions, and the influence of all of these on civilization—setting aside contributions such as human rights, transcendent moral values, political freedom, to name just a few—is breathtaking in its ignorance, reductionism, and bigotry.

But we had better get used to it.

[rhema]

BTTT

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[Elliott Jackalope]

My suggestion to the producers of these films? Tell their critics to tolerate it, just like they had to tolerate blasphemous films like "Last Temptation" and "Dogma". They get to say what they want, and the other guy gets to say what he wants. That's what a "free society" is supposed to be about.

I say Mel should cut that film and release it any damn way he pleases, and anyone who doesn't like it can choose not to watch it. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

[AD from SpringBay]

btw - if you're interested in such things I highly recommend Persecution... by David Limbaugh. I'm only in chapter five but it's a real eye opener. It was a little expensive and I had to ask at the information desk of the local B&N as to where it was in the store, but it was worth it.

I guess you just get used to the weekly newstories - but when you read them, one after another after another - the understanding of what seems to be going on becomes clearer.

[VOA]

Better get used to it: Critics of new films about Christ are really objecting to the Bible

It never ceases to amaze...how people who think Christianity is some sort
of fairy tale...
don't get as paranoically disturbed about Goldilock and The Three Bears.
Or some other work they actually know is fiction.

[mitch5501]

"But we had better get used to it."

Getting used to it isn't the hard part,getting over it is.

[the lone wolf]

I will predict here that "The Passion" will be one of the largest grossing movies of all time. Just about anyone that is serious about their Christianity will go see it. This means tens of millions of tickets sold, maybe hundreds of millions.

I will also predict that the enormous financial success of "The Passion" will leave the Leftist and Jewish critics of this movie with a permanent bad taste in their mouths, but that they will never, ever apologize for what they said about Mel Gibson.

[Bonaparte]

Bears repeating...

Critics of new films about Christ are really objecting to the Bible

[Bonaparte]

"...they will never, ever apologize for what they said about Mel Gibson."

They are apologists only for low-lifes like Bill Clinton.

[Elliott Jackalope]

I hope you are right, and I hope Mel releases the movie that he thinks is right to make, and not something that conforms to the desires of his critics. Once again, the people in Hollywood have seen fit to release movies like "Last Temptation" and "Dogma". Why can't Mel release a movie that is exactly true to scripture? Why can't they "tolerate" that?

No, I'm not a Christian, I'm agnostic. However, I firmly believe that Mel has the right to make his movie his way, and if people don't like it they can choose not to see it. I'm a firm believer in the adage "I may not agree with what you have to say, but I'll fight to the death for your right to say it!"

Stand firm, Mel. Stay true to your beliefs, and don't let the critics grind you down.

[scan58]

It never ceases to amaze...how people who think Christianity is some sort of fairy tale... don't get as paranoically disturbed about Goldilock and The Three Bears. Or some other work they actually know is fiction.

Jealousy and fear fuels that paranoia. They don't actualy know it's fiction or they wouldn't care.

[Malcolm]

Of course this is correct. The entire world is under the sway of Mr. Pitchfork. Jesus himself said that those who are not for us are against us. No neutral corners, you're either part of the problem, or your name is written in the Book of Life.....

[BenLurkin]

Critics of new films about Christ are really objecting to the Bible

Bears repeating.

[Chewbacca]

Change the title to "Critics of new films about Christ are really agents of Satan", and I think you have the truth.

[xp38]

I saw the Gospel of John at the film festival and highly recommend it to anyone. This is definitely worth seeking out. It's the best movie on the life of Christ I have ever seen.

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP

[LiteKeeper]

Critics of new films about Christ are really objecting to the Bible

They are really objecting to God...to the Greeks the Cross was foolishness; to the Jews it was a stumbling block...the objection is always, ultimately about God.

[Gal.5:1]

Yup, if the movie, or any movie about Jesus, has the exact words and events as told in the gospels, the criticism of the content is not directed at the makers of the movie, but at the Author of the original source( the Bible), and that is the Lord God Himself.

For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness. 1Cor.1:22-23